This invention relates generally to product lubricated pump bearings and more particularly to product lubricated thrust bearings with reversible button inserts for wearing surfaces of such bearings.
Product lubrication of bearings in pumps, i.e., lubrication of the bearings of the pump using the pumped fluid, is a desirable feature; because it permits design of pumps without separate lubrication systems and their associated equipment and with no mechanical seals to protect such bearings from the pumped fluid. When pumping clean and lubricious fluids, selection of the bearing materials is relatively simple. However, when pumping dirty fluids, non-lubricious fluids, or dirty and non-lubricious fluids, the bearing materials must be capable of withstanding abrasion and/or frictional heating without deterioration.
Thus, suitable materials are often expensive, difficult to fabricate, and fragile. Because of these drawbacks, product lubrication of bearings is not employed to the fullest extent possible, and lower quality and durability must be tolerated in the interest of practicality and short term economy.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present pump bearings. Thus, it would clearly be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.